The grandmother and father of a Pickens County toddler who died from a drug overdose in 2008 were convicted and sentenced on Friday.

Advertisement

Prosecutor Walt Wilkins said 55-year-old Donna Lynn Phillips was convicted Friday of homicide by child abuse and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Wilkins said 28-year-old Jamie Edward Morris was found guilty of aiding and abetting homicide by child abuse and will serve eight years in prison.

Pickens County Coroner Dr. James Mahanes said Jaidon Morris died of a hydrocodone overdose in March 2008.

Prosecutors said Phillips and Morris gave the 22-month-old lethal doses of a cough medicine containing hydrocodone and didn't get him medical attention after he became ill.

The indictment against Phillips said she showed "extreme indifference to human life by facilitating or allowing the excessive ingestion of opiate drugs and/or the failure to get medical treatment for the child."

Police said Jaidon had been released from foster care just days before he died.